Handbook of Public Information Systems Second Edition ppt

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Handbook of Public Information Systems

Second Edition

PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION AND PUBLIC POLICY

A Comprehensive Publication Program

Executive Editor

JACK RABIN

Professor of Public Administration and Public Policy

School of Public Affairs The Capital College The Pennsylvania State University—Harrisburg

Middletown, Pennsylvania

Assistant to the Executive Editor

T Aaron Wachhaus, Jr.

1 Public Administration as a Developing Discipline, Robert T Golembiewski

2 Comparative National Policies on Health Care, Milton I Roemer, M.D.

3 Exclusionary Injustice: The Problem of Illegally Obtained Evidence,

Steven R Schlesinger

5 Organization Development in Public Administration, edited by

Robert T Golembiewski and William B Eddy

7 Approaches to Planned Change, Robert T Golembiewski

8 Program Evaluation at HEW, edited by James G Abert

9 The States and the Metropolis, Patricia S Florestano and Vincent L Marando

11 Changing Bureaucracies: Understanding the Organization before Selecting the Approach, William A Medina

12 Handbook on Public Budgeting and Financial Management, edited by

Jack Rabin and Thomas D Lynch

15 Handbook on Public Personnel Administration and Labor Relations,

edited by Jack Rabin, Thomas Vocino, W Bartley Hildreth, and Gerald J Miller

19 Handbook of Organization Management, edited by William B Eddy

20 Organization Theory and Management, edited by Thomas D Lynch

22 Politics and Administration: Woodrow Wilson and American Public Administration, edited by Jack Rabin and James S Bowman

23 Making and Managing Policy: Formulation, Analysis, Evaluation,

edited by G Ronald Gilbert

25 Decision Making in the Public Sector, edited by Lloyd G Nigro

26 Managing Administration, edited by Jack Rabin, Samuel Humes,

and Brian S Morgan

27 Public Personnel Update, edited by Michael Cohen and Robert T Golembiewski

28 State and Local Government Administration, edited by Jack Rabin

and Don Dodd

29 Public Administration: A Bibliographic Guide to the Literature,

Howard E McCurdy

31 Handbook of Information Resource Management, edited by Jack Rabin

and Edward M Jackowski

32 Public Administration in Developed Democracies: A Comparative Study,

edited by Donald C Rowat

33 The Politics of Terrorism: Third Edition, edited by Michael Stohl

34 Handbook on Human Services Administration, edited by Jack Rabin

and Marcia B Steinhauer

36 Ethics for Bureaucrats: An Essay on Law and Values, Second Edition,

John A Rohr

37 The Guide to the Foundations of Public Administration, Daniel W Martin

39 Terrorism and Emergency Management: Policy and Administration,

William L Waugh, Jr.

40 Organizational Behavior and Public Management: Second Edition,

Michael L Vasu, Debra W Stewart, and G David Garson

43 Government Financial Management Theory, Gerald J Miller

46 Handbook of Public Budgeting, edited by Jack Rabin

49 Handbook of Court Administration and Management,

edited by Steven W Hays and Cole Blease Graham, Jr.

50 Handbook of Comparative Public Budgeting and Financial Management,

edited by Thomas D Lynch and Lawrence L Martin

53 Encyclopedia of Policy Studies: Second Edition, edited by Stuart S Nagel

54 Handbook of Regulation and Administrative Law,

edited by David H Rosenbloom and Richard D Schwartz

55 Handbook of Bureaucracy, edited by Ali Farazmand

56 Handbook of Public Sector Labor Relations, edited by Jack Rabin,

Thomas Vocino, W Bartley Hildreth, and Gerald J Miller

57 Practical Public Management, Robert T Golembiewski

58 Handbook of Public Personnel Administration, edited by Jack Rabin,

Thomas Vocino, W Bartley Hildreth, and Gerald J Miller

60 Handbook of Debt Management, edited by Gerald J Miller

61 Public Administration and Law: Second Edition, David H Rosenbloom

and Rosemary O’Leary

62 Handbook of Local Government Administration, edited by John J Gargan

63 Handbook of Administrative Communication, edited by James L Garnett

and Alexander Kouzmin

64 Public Budgeting and Finance: Fourth Edition, edited by

Robert T Golembiewski and Jack Rabin

65 Handbook of Public Administration: Second Edition, edited by

Jack Rabin, W Bartley Hildreth, and Gerald J Miller

66 Handbook of Organization Theory and Management: The Philosophical Approach, edited by Thomas D Lynch and Todd J Dicker

67 Handbook of Public Finance, edited by Fred Thompson and Mark T Green

68 Organizational Behavior and Public Management: Third Edition,

Michael L Vasu, Debra W Stewart, and G David Garson

69 Handbook of Economic Development, edited by Kuotsai Tom Liou

70 Handbook of Health Administration and Policy, edited by

Anne Osborne Kilpatrick and James A Johnson

71 Handbook of Research Methods in Public Administration,

edited by Gerald J Miller and Marcia L Whicker

72 Handbook on Taxation, edited by W Bartley Hildreth and James A Richardson

73 Handbook of Comparative Public Administration in the Asia-Pacific Basin,

edited by Hoi-kwok Wong and Hon S Chan

74 Handbook of Global Environmental Policy and Administration,

edited by Dennis L Soden and Brent S Steel

75 Handbook of State Government Administration, edited by John J Gargan

76 Handbook of Global Legal Policy, edited by Stuart S Nagel

78 Handbook of Global Economic Policy, edited by Stuart S Nagel

79 Handbook of Strategic Management: Second Edition,

edited by Jack Rabin, Gerald J Miller, and W Bartley Hildreth

80 Handbook of Global International Policy, edited by Stuart S Nagel

81 Handbook of Organizational Consultation: Second Edition,

edited by Robert T Golembiewski

82 Handbook of Global Political Policy, edited by Stuart S Nagel

83 Handbook of Global Technology Policy, edited by Stuart S Nagel

84 Handbook of Criminal Justice Administration, edited by M A DuPont-Morales,

Michael K Hooper, and Judy H Schmidt

85 Labor Relations in the Public Sector: Third Edition, edited by Richard C Kearney

86 Handbook of Administrative Ethics: Second Edition, edited by Terry L Cooper

87 Handbook of Organizational Behavior: Second Edition, edited by Robert T Golembiewski

88 Handbook of Global Social Policy, edited by Stuart S Nagel and Amy Robb

89 Public Administration: A Comparative Perspective, Sixth Edition, Ferrel Heady

90 Handbook of Public Quality Management, edited by Ronald J Stupak and

Peter M Leitner

91 Handbook of Public Management Practice and Reform, edited by Kuotsai Tom Liou

92 Personnel Management in Government: Politics and Process, Fifth Edition,

Jay M Shafritz, Norma M Riccucci, David H Rosenbloom, Katherine C Naff, and Albert C Hyde

93 Handbook of Crisis and Emergency Management, edited by Ali Farazmand

94 Handbook of Comparative and Development Public Administration: Second Edition, edited by Ali Farazmand

95 Financial Planning and Management in Public Organizations,

Alan Walter Steiss and Emeka O Cyprian Nwagwu

96 Handbook of International Health Care Systems, edited by

Khi V Thai, Edward T Wimberley, and Sharon M McManus

97 Handbook of Monetary Policy, edited by Jack Rabin and Glenn L Stevens

98 Handbook of Fiscal Policy, edited by Jack Rabin and Glenn L Stevens

99 Public Administration: An Interdisciplinary Critical Analysis, edited by

Eran Vigoda

100 Ironies in Organizational Development: Second Edition, Revised and Expanded, edited by Robert T Golembiewski

101 Science and Technology of Terrorism and Counterterrorism,

edited by Tushar K Ghosh, Mark A Prelas, Dabir S Viswanath, and Sudarshan K Loyalka

102 Strategic Management for Public and Nonprofit Organizations, Alan Walter Steiss

103 Case Studies in Public Budgeting and Financial Management:

Second Edition, edited by Aman Khan and W Bartley Hildreth

104 Handbook of Conflict Management, edited by William J Pammer, Jr

and Jerri Killian

105 Chaos Organization and Disaster Management, Alan Kirschenbaum

106 Handbook of Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgender Administration and Policy, edited by Wallace Swan

107 Public Productivity Handbook: Second Edition, edited by Marc Holzer

108 Handbook of Developmental Policy Studies, edited by

Gedeon M Mudacumura, Desta Mebratu and M Shamsul Haque

109 Bioterrorism in Medical and Healthcare Administration, Laure Paquette

110 International Public Policy and Management: Policy Learning Beyond Regional, Cultural, and Political Boundaries, edited by David Levi-Faur

and Eran Vigoda-Gadot

111 Handbook of Public Information Systems, Second Edition, edited by

G David Garson

112 Handbook of Public Sector Economics, edited by Donijo Robbins

113 Handbook of Public Administration and Policy in the European Union,

edited by M Peter van der Hoek

114 Nonproliferation Issues for Weapons of Mass Destruction, Mark A Prelas

and Michael S Peck

Available Electronically

Principles and Practices of Public Administration, edited by Jack Rabin,

Robert F Munzenrider, and Sherrie M Bartell

edited by

G David Garson

North Carolina State University

Handbook of Public Information Systems

Second Edition

Published in 2005 by

CRC Press

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Handbook of public information systems / edited by G David Garson.–2nd ed.

p cm – (Public administration and public policy; 111)

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 0-8247-2233-7 (alk paper)

1 Public administration–Information technology I Garson, G David II Series.

JF1525.A8H36 2005

Taylor & Francis Group

is the Academic Division of T&F Informa plc.

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Preface xiiiEditor xvContributors xviiPart I: Introduction

Chapter 1 Public Information Systems in the 21st Century 3

G David Garson

Chapter 2 Bridging the Gap between Information Technology Needs in

the Public Sector and in Public Administration Graduate Education 11Mary Maureen Brown, Jeffrey L Brudney, and William L Waugh, Jr

Chapter 3 Public Information Technology and e-Government:

A Historical Timeline 27

G David Garson

Part II: Organizational Research

Chapter 4 Using Strategic Information Systems to Improve Contracted Services

and Assess Privatization Options 43Steven Cohen and William B Eimicke

Chapter 5 Interorganizational and Interdepartmental Information Systems:

Sharing among Governments 59Bruce Rocheleau

Chapter 6 Implementing e-Government Projects: Organizational Impact and

Resilience to Change 83Mila Gasco´

Chapter 7 Understanding Large-Scale IT Project Failure: Escalating

and De-escalating Commitment 93Mark R Nelson

Chapter 8 Revisiting Virtual Locals and Cosmopolitans ‘‘In and As’’ Electronic

Governance: A Comparative Analysis of the Social Production of an Academic

Community 107Lynn M Mulkey, William L Dougan, and Lala Carr Steelman

Chapter 9 Information Technology Investment and Organizational

Performance in the Public Sector 127Pamela Hammers Specht and Gregory Hoff

Chapter 10 Electronic Data Sharing in Public-Sector Agencies 143Irvin B Vann

Chapter 11 Governance in the Era of the World Wide Web: An Assessment

of Organizational Openness and Government Effectiveness, 1997 to 2001 155Todd M La Porte, Chris C Demchak, and Christopher Weare

Part III: Policy Issues

Chapter 12 Social Stratification and the Digital Divide 173Kenneth R Wilson, Jennifer S Wallin, and Christa Reiser

Chapter 13 Intellectual Property for Public Managers 185Roland J Cole and Eric F Broucek

Chapter 14 Cybersecurity Considerations for Information Systems 203Cynthia E Irvine

Chapter 15 Information and Terrorism Age Militaries 219Chris C Demchak

Chapter 16 e-Rulemaking 237Stuart W Shulman, Lisa E Thrane, and Mark C Shelley

Chapter 17 Citizen Participation and Direct Democracy through Computer

Networking: Possibilities and Experience 255Carmine Scavo

Chapter 18 Internet Tax Policy: An International Perspective 281Dale Nesbary and Luis Garcia

Chapter 19 Taking Advantage of the Information Age: Which Countries

Benefit? 299Shelly Arsneault, Alana Northrop, and Kenneth L Kraemer

Part IV: Case Studies

Chapter 20 The Role of Information Technology and the

New York State Legislature 321Antoinette J Pole

Chapter 21 Managing e-Government in Florida: Further Lessons from

Transition and Maturity 335David H Coursey and Jennifer Killingsworth

Chapter 22 Exploring Internet Options: The Case of Georgia’s

Consumer Services 353Gregory Streib and Katherine G Willoughby

Chapter 23 The Virtual Value Chain and e-Government Partnership:

Nonmonetary Agreements in the IRS e-File Program 369Stephen H Holden and Patricia D Fletcher

Chapter 27 Analysis and Communication for Public Budgeting 463Carl Grafton and Anne Permaloff

Chapter 28 Public Finance Management Information Systems 489John W Swain and Jay D White

Chapter 29 Statistical Analysis Software in Public Management 505

T R Carr

Part VI: E-Government

Chapter 30 Enacting Virtual Forms of Work and Community: Multiwave ResearchFindings across Individual, Organizational, and Local Community Settings 521Thomas Horan and Kimberly J Wells

Chapter 31 E-Government: The URBIS Cities Revisited 545Alana Northrop

Chapter 32 Agency Internets and the Changing Dynamics of Congressional

Oversight 559Julianne G Mahler and Priscilla M Regan

Chapter 33 Privacy Considerations in Electronic Judicial Records:

When Constitutional Rights Collide 569Charles N Davis

Chapter 34 Information Technology and Political Participation:

A Comparative Institutional Approach 581Juliet Ann Musso and Christopher Weare

Chapter 35 E-Government Performance-Reporting Requirements 599Patrick R Mullen

Chapter 36 Assessing e-Government Innovation 615Jonathan D Parks and Shannon H Schelin

Chapter 37 E-Democracy and the U.K Parliament 631Stephen Coleman

Chapter 38 Emerging Electronic Infrastructures: Exploring Democratic

Components 643A˚ke Gro¨nlund

Part VII: Conclusion

Chapter 39 Information Systems, Politics, and Government:

Leading Theoretical Perspectives 665

G David Garson

Index 689

Because of the fast-evolving nature of technology and the issues and opportunities faced

by public-sector managers as they wrestle with the information age, it is perhaps notsurprising that this second edition of the Handbook of Public Information Systemscontains approximately two thirds new material, including a whole new section one-government I wish to thank all those in government service, schools of public admin-istration, and elsewhere who contributed to this volume, either directly or as reviewers.Without their generous contribution of time and energy, this volume would not bepossible

It is appropriate that the study of information technology (IT) is assuming a centralplace in public administration curricula and, perhaps more important, that the inad-equacy of narrowly technocratic approaches to IT management is increasingly recog-nized in government There is good reason to study and better understand theimplementation of IT projects More often than not, IT projects are late, over budget,

do not achieve their functional objectives, or are even simply canceled, as has beenreported by organizations such as the Gartner Group, Meta Group, and the StandishGroup

There are several theories about IT failure, each emphasizing different themes found

in this volume Some have noted that the greater the number of stakeholders (and thepublic sector tends to proliferate stakeholders), the more complex the requirements andthe higher the risk of project failure IT projects fail because of lack of commitment fromthe organization’s stakeholders; consequently, the project manager must spend muchtime mobilizing stakeholders, leaving IT technology issues largely to the tech team Time

is spent, for instance, getting agency leadership to figure out what they really want and torealize that they didn’t have the time or resources to do it The organization’s executiveleadership is the prime stakeholder, whose active support is critical to implementationsuccess

Others have stressed that senior management lacks understanding not only of thetechnology, but also of the general systemic nature of their organizations, and particularlylacks an understanding that technological change means change of the organizationalculture Lack of a participative approach is commonly cited as a cause of IT failure.Without participation, IT initiatives often fail to capture important social relationships,which may undermine the technical logic of the IT system

Then, too, technology projects often fail because of poor business plans To besustainable, the technology project must make economic sense to the principle stake-holders Thus there must be an economic model that accompanies the technology model.Project managers must focus on business needs first, technology second When thesolution is selected solely on technological grounds, ignoring business requirements,failure often ensues The Gartner Group finds that as many as three quarters of all ITprojects fail because of old-fashioned, poor planning Failure to invest in planning the

project within the organization, and buying a prepackaged outside ‘‘solution’’ instead,has been cited as one of the leading reasons for IT failure.

IT projects fail because the underlying assumptions about a program are unrealistic

IT projects fail because conventional and inappropriate methods traditional to the ization are forcibly used in new IT project implementation initiatives IT projects failbecause of unrealistically short time horizons, sometimes encouraged by IT consultantswho seek/need to close and go on to new projects In the public sector, expending anagency’s entire budget before the end of the fiscal year is a common pattern, designed todemonstrate need so as to assure the following year’s budget will be at least as large Thisstrategy, however, can result in undue acceleration of IT projects This is compoundedwhen the strategy is implemented at the end of the year, under an even more compressedtime schedule

organ-In general, the more rapid the rate of change in the environment, the more disorderedand uncoordinated the implementation of technology initiations, the more likely thesystem failure Under these circumstances, IT projects fail because of inadequate support,training, and incentives for end users Lack of user input may lead to an inappropriatetechnology design An important part of IT implementation is mobilization at the work-group level This may involve participative planning, training, and individual or grouprewards for IT success Lack of communication and understanding between top man-agement, the technology team, and end users is a major factor in the failure of IT projects

IT training must be about more than technology IT training must take a holistic approach

to organization development in the context of constant performance pressure associatedwith implementing new technology

The prevalence of failure to deliver IT projects on time and within budget, and to do

so while also providing for such values as privacy, security, and accountability, is asimportant a public management challenge as any in our time The chapters in this bookaddress different aspects of a systemic whole but the unifying theme is that technology istoo important to leave to the technocrats To do so is not only to leave democratic values

in peril, but also to fail to apply to IT what students of public administration have found

to be wise management practice in its more traditional domains of strategic planning,policy development, and the mobilization of human capital

G David GarsonRaleigh, NCMarch 2005

G David Garson is full professor of public administration at North Carolina StateUniversity, where he teaches courses on geographic information systems, informationtechnology, e-government, research methodology, and American government In 1995

he was recipient of the Donald Campbell Award from the Policy Studies Organization,American Political Science Association, for outstanding contributions to policy researchmethodology, and in 1997 of the Aaron Wildavsky Book Award from the same organiza-tion In 1999 he won the Okidata Instructional Web Award from the Computers andMultimedia Section of the American Political Science Association, in 2002 he received anNCSU Award for Innovative Excellence in Teaching and Learning with Technology, and

in 2003 he received an award ‘‘For Outstanding Teaching in Political Science’’ from theAmerican Political Science Association and the National Political Science Honor Society,

Pi Sigma Alpha

He is editor of Public Information Systems: Policy and Management Issues (2003);coeditor of Digital Government: Principles and Practices (2003); coauthor of CrimeMapping (2003); author of Guide to Writing Quantitative Papers, Theses, and Disserta-tions (Dekker, 2001); editor of Social Dimensions of Information Technology (2000),Information Technology and Computer Applications in Public Administration: Issuesand Trends (1999), and Handbook of Public Information Systems (1999, 2004); author

of Neural Network Analysis for Social Scientists (1998), Computer Technology and SocialIssues (1995), and Geographic Databases and Analytic Mapping (1992); and is author,coauthor, editor, or coeditor of 17 other books and author or coauthor of over 50 articles

He has also created award-winning American government computer simulations,CD-ROMs, and six websites for Prentice-Hall and Simon & Schuster (1995–1999) Forthe last 20 years he has also served as editor of the Social Science Computer Review and is

on the editorial board of four additional journals He is currently principal investigator forthe North Carolina Governor’s Crime Commission on ‘‘Using Neural Network Analysisand GIS to Model Crime Data’’ (2001–2004) and two other crime-related grants ProfessorGarson received his undergraduate degree in political science from Princeton University(1965) and his doctoral degree in government from Harvard University (1969)

Shelly Arsneault, California State University, Fullerton, CA

sarsenault@fullerton.edu

Eric F Broucek, DHL Express

Mary Maureen Brown, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NCbrown@iogmail.iog.unc.edu

Jeffrey L Brudney, University of Georgia, Athens, GA

Patricia D Fletcher, University of Maryland–Baltimore County, Baltimore, MD

Juliet A Musso, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA

Genie N.L Stowers, San Francisco State University, San Francisco, CA

PART I

INTRODUCTION

PUBLIC INFORMATION SYSTEMS IN

THE 21ST CENTURY

G David GarsonNorth Carolina State University

2, textbooks and graduate instruction in the field of public administration are struggling

to keep up with the rapid pace of change and to prepare students and practitioners alikefor public service in the ‘‘information age.’’ It is hoped that the present volume will makesome modest contribution to the preparation and career readiness of public administra-tion students and practitioners new to information and communication technology (ICT).This collection of original essays presents the historical, institutional, legal, organiza-tional, functional, policy, and theoretical background that we believe constitutes ICTliteracy for the public service

The chapters that follow are divided into several broad categories In Part I, historicalbackground is presented, in the form of a timeline of technological, legislative, andjudicial events pertaining to ICT Part II on organizational research lays out the implica-tions of information technology (IT) for the ways organizations may adapt to change in awide variety of organizational dimensions, ranging from the details of implementation tothe strategies involved in political considerations Part III synopsizes a variety of policyissues, including issues of equity, intellectual property, public participation, and inter-national issues This is followed in Part IV by a small number of case studies, after whichPart V describes federal-level applications of IT to training, contracting, budgeting, publicfinance, and other areas Part VI is a new section, focusing on e-government examples

3

and issues from several perspectives Part VII contains an essay by the editor, discussingthe theoretical context of public information systems.

I ORGANIZATIONAL RESEARCHSteven Cohen and William Eimicke, in ‘‘Using Strategic Information Systems to ImproveContracted Services and Assess Privatization Options’’ (Chapter 4), trace how govern-ment officials look to contracting out and privatization as means to a more effectivepublic sector They explore the theory and practice of performance measurement and IT

in the context of outsourcing public service delivery and discuss the use of governmentstrategic planning and information-based performance management to plan and manageprivate contractors performing public tasks While information systems are critical to themanagement of in-house organizational units, the authors believe they are even moreimportant in managing the work of contractors

Bruce Rocheleau, in ‘‘Interorganizational and Interdepartmental Information Systems:Sharing among Governments’’ (Chapter 5), examines the types of sharing of IT resourcesthat take place among governmental organizations He studies sharing relationshipsamong local governments, between state and local governments, between the federaland state governments, and other complex relationships that include private organiza-tions A wide variety of examples of sharing are drawn from available resources in order

to identify the types of sharing that exist and the key factors that influence its success

In ‘‘Implementing e-Government Projects: Organizational Impact and Resilience toChange’’ (Chapter 6), Mila Gasco´ discusses technological innovations in the public sectorthat have led to digital administration and government programs that have not alwaysbeen successful To understand why requires analyzing the organizational and institu-tional setting where the transformations that are related to ICT adoption in the publicsector occur The adoption of new technologies has given rise to important organiza-tional change processes but it has not necessarily been accompanied by needed culturalalterations or institutional changes Those factors that produce resilience to technologicalchange are not different from those related to other public administration transform-ations, the author argues

Mark R Nelson, in ‘‘Understanding Large-Scale IT Project Failure: Escalating and escalating Commitment’’ (Chapter 7), notes that large-scale IT projects are particularlyprone to failure Moreover, in the public sector, IT failure may be cumulative and evenhave a domino effect Increasing commitment to success yields subsequent projectiterations that are both increasingly costly and increasingly less likely to succeed Nelsonlooks at how commitment to large-scale IT projects in the public sector escalates and de-escalates repeatedly over time The consequences of such cycles are discussed, includingspecific concerns and recommendations that are made for public-sector managers oflarge-scale IT projects

De-In ‘‘Revisiting Virtual Locals and Cosmopolitans ‘De-In and As’ Electronic Governance:

A Comparative Analysis of the Social Production of Academic Community’’ (Chapter 8),Lynn M Mulkey, William L Dougan, and Lala Carr Steelman shift the focus to academia.Building on Robert Merton’s theory of ‘‘locals’’ and ‘‘cosmopolitans’’ for understandingthe governance of virtual academic organizations, the authors address whether virtualcommunities have the same essential characteristics as those typically observed in face-to-face communities to which the local–cosmopolitan dichotomy was originally applied.The authors explore how norm construction in public access data obtained for previous

research — faculty at a large state university — compares with observations on a sample

of electronic communications among members of the American Society of PublicAdministration (ASPA) The authors find that virtual communities appear especiallyamenable to self-selection and exclusivity of normative orientations for fulfilling thefunctions of academic institutions and they trace implications for public administration.Pamela Hammers Specht and Gregory Hoff, in ‘‘Information Technology Investmentand Organization Performance in the Public Sector,’’ focus on determining what will bemeasured or tracked to accurately represent investment and performance within publicand private agencies The authors offer a framework for public-sector managers to use indeveloping appropriate performance measures and guidelines based on the literature arepresented to aid in the formulation of business cases containing IT investment toorganization performance

In ‘‘Electronic Data Sharing in Public-Sector Agencies’’ (Chapter 10), Irvin B Vanndistinguishes information sharing and data sharing, examining both concepts as found

in public administration literature and proposes some clarifications between them

IT is viewed as one of the solutions for reducing the information ‘‘collection burden’’ oncitizens and businesses Using technology, information sharing between governmentagencies is frequently proposed as the method to efficiently use the vast amounts ofinformation collected by government but this widely accepted goal confronts numerousobstacles

Todd M La Porte, Chris C Demchak, and Christopher Weare, in ‘‘Governance in theEra of the World Wide Web: An Assessment of Organizational Openness and GovernmentEffectiveness, 1997 to 2001’’ (Chapter 11), contend that bureaucratic openness, adminis-trative efficiency, and increased public participation are separate but potentially linkedaspects of increasingly reliance on electronic networked information systems, principallythe Internet This chapter updates their earlier report on a systematic long-runningresearch program, supported by the National Science Foundation, to survey and analyzethese trends They analyze the effects of these digital government efforts, and relate them

to several government performance measures, including standard economic growthrates, government performance data, and data on democratic institutions

II POLICY ISSUESKenneth R Wilson, Jennifer S Wallin, and Christa Reiser, in ‘‘Social Stratification and theDigital Divide’’ (Chapter 12), note that while recent studies have shown that the size ofthe digital divide has been shrinking for many groups, the authors explore whethersocioeconomic factors explain the racial, geographic, and gender divides Rural, minor-ity, and female respondents were found to be less likely to have home computers or to beconnected to the Internet Controlling for socioeconomic variables, the effects of ruralresidence and gender disappeared but African Americans were still less likely to havehome computers or Internet access

In ‘‘Intellectual Property for Public Managers’’ (Chapter 13), Roland J Cole and Eric F.Broucek set forth some of the history of the concept of intellectual property, then discuss itsfour major types The authors discuss the special legal rules surrounding the federalgovernment’s acquisition and creation of intellectual property, then the role of the states(in this context, local governments are similar to states) Finally, the authors conclude with

a table summarizing some of the major legal aspects of each type of intellectual property

Cynthia E Irvine, in ‘‘Cybersecurity Considerations for Information Systems’’ (Chapter14), notes that as the value of the information stored electronically increases, computersystems become targets for abuse and attack To ensure continued public confidence inthese systems, managers need to understand the impact of security shortcomings in theirautomated systems A high-level taxonomy of threats to information systems is presented

to provide a basis for security requirements Fundamental concepts of computer securityare reviewed The costs and benefits of investment in cybersecurity will be introduced.The concept of organizational information policy, mechanisms for its enforcement, andthe value of assurance and the notion of costs and benefits of investment in cybersecurityare presented

In ‘‘E-Rulemaking’’ (Chapter 16), Stuart W Shulman, Lisa Thrane, and Mark C Shelleypresent and assess the debate about the future of e-rulemaking They examine the impact

of electronic enhancements to the collection and synthesis of public commentary Focusgroup data are presented to highlight a number of the competing values that are at stake

as public managers implement e-government The authors speculate about the next stepsthat might culminate in a public information system for e-rulemaking that is technologic-ally robust, applied in the most appropriate ways possible, and a genuine enhancement

to both the regulatory and the democratic processes

Carmine Scavo, in ‘‘Citizen Participation and Direct Democracy through ComputerNetworking: Possibilities and Experience’’ (Chapter 17), examines the potential of ICT to

be a democratizing force, citing the generally positive track record of computer ing experience of various levels of government in the U.S., the work of various non-governmental organizations, and the theoretical formulations of various analysts andresearchers

network-In ‘‘network-Internet Tax Policy: An network-International Perspective’’ (Chapter 18), Dale Nesbary andLuis Garcia show how new forms of electronic commerce have led to concern andinterest on the part of governments, business, and individuals about the collectivity oftaxes on Internet transactions, downloads, and access The authors examine Internet taxpolicies of the U.S., Canada, Australia, England, and European Union nations, and theyoffer recommendations for a model Internet tax policy

Shelly Arsneault, Alana Northrop, and Kenneth L Kraemer, in ‘‘Taking Advantage ofthe Information Age: Which Countries Benefit?’’ (Chapter 19), address the issue oftechnological advance by reviewing the factors that led countries to computerize athigh rates during the 1990s and by asking which countries have been most likely totake advantage of the Internet as it gains wide popularity at the start of the 21st century.The authors find that the profusion of information infrastructure was a key mediatingforce determining the likelihood of a nation-state making use of computers in the early1990s, and the Internet early in the 21st century To fully participate and gain theeconomic, political and social benefits of computers and the Internet, nations are advised

to expose their citizens to earlier generations of mass information mediums and toprovide them an extensive information infrastructure

III CASE STUDIES

In ‘‘The Role of Information Technology and the New York State Legislature’’ (Chapter20), Antoinette J Pole explores the role of computing technology in the New York StateLegislature during the past two decades She looks at how technology has transformedconstituency correspondence, the tracking of legislation, the process of redistricting, and

how policymakers and their staff use the Internet In addition, the author assesses thelevel of collaboration, efficiency, and acceptance toward new technologies in these areas.Overall, she finds a greater degree of efficiency across the board but acceptance of newtechnologies is not universal Increased collaboration in the areas of tracking legislationand the Internet, in particular, is found to have greatly altered policymaking.

David H Coursey and Jennifer Killingsworth, in ‘‘Managing e-Government in Florida:Further Lessons from Transition and Maturity’’ (Chapter 21), discuss reasons why the state

of Florida was the leading state government in e-government in the mid-1990s ations include political leadership and competition, innovative personnel practices, andentrepreneurial leadership With a change in the governor’s office in the 1998 election from

Explan-a moderExplan-ate DemocrExplan-at to Explan-a firmly Explan-antigovernment conservExplan-ative RepublicExplan-an, the stExplan-atebecame one of the first to experience the influence of a dramatic government transition

in e-government management philosophy This chapter primarily reflects on the state’sexperience under Jeb Bush and whether commonly asserted public information manage-ment ideas are supported Evidence tends to support the importance of factors such aspolitical leadership, personnel arrangements, and institutional structures on innovation

In ‘‘Exploring Internet Options: The Case of Georgia’s Consumer Services’’ (Chapter22), Gregory Streib and Katherine G Willoughby examine citizens’ perspectives aboutservice delivery options of a state agency that specifically compares traditional means ofdelivery (like in-person office visits) with web-based ones The authors present data from

a yearlong series of four statewide polls that examined attitudes toward the servicesprovided by Georgia’s Office of Consumer Affairs and citizen assessment of differentservice delivery options, including electronic communication methods Their findingsshow a strong preference for in-person communication Their work throws light on thehurdles that public administrators face as they seek to find ways to benefit from newcommunication technologies

In a fourth case study, Stephen H Holden and Patricia Diamond Fletcher, in ‘‘TheVirtual Value Chain and e-Government Partnership: Nonmonetary Agreements in the IRSe-File Program’’ (Chapter 23), trace how a new form of collaboration emerged in theInternal Revenue Service (IRS) e-file program in 1999 and what dimensions helped tomake it a success The IRS e-file program, one of the largest and most successful U.S e-government programs with tens of millions of users each year, experienced dramaticchanges in its long-standing partnership with the tax preparation and related softwaredevelopment industries in 1999 and 2000 The authors show, using the concept of thevirtual value chain, how the IRS rethought its relationship with its private-sector partners

A combination of conditions in the marketplace, in U.S society, within the IRS, andamong the private-sector partners helped to make this new model of collaboration quitesuccessful The chapter concludes by examining how the dimensions of partnership inthe IRS e-file case and the concept of the virtual value chain might enable other publicorganizations to reconceptualize their e-government partnership arrangements with theprivate sector with a new model of collaboration

IV APPLICATIONSGenie N L Stowers, in ‘‘Computer-Based Training in the Public Sector’’ (Chapter 24),discusses the various technologies involved in computer-based training and provides aspecial emphasis on online training Computer-based training can be provided just-in-time and allows participants to have more flexibility in their learning experiences

This chapter reviews these options, including the fast-changing online training tunities The existing evidence suggests most types of computer-based training are just aseffective, if not more so, than traditional forms of instruction.

oppor-In ‘‘Issues in Contracting and Outsourcing oppor-Information Technology’’ (Chapter 25), Jay

D White and Ronnie Korosec find contracting out technology and outsourcing tion services in the public sector is fraught with many financial risks and project failures.They provide an overview of some major issues in contracting and outsourcing IT inpublic organizations and examine the risks and failures of large-scale IT projects, outlin-ing some of the things that management can do to deal with risks and failures incontracting and outsourcing deals

informa-George B K de Graan, in ‘‘Management Information Systems and an InterdisciplinaryBudget Model’’ (Chapter 26), argues that management systems in the U.S and Europeanpublic sectors suffer from the lack of adequate measures of efforts for efficiency andeffectives and the retrospective-oriented management information By styling the causalrelationships of the transformation process from inputs to outputs independently of thetraditional administration and on a strongly prospective-oriented way, this information can

be used to reinforce the strategic planning (effectiveness) and the management controlprocess (efficiency) A budget model can be described as a quantitative and a qualitativegoal to be achieved on the basis of parameters that have been estimated by statisticalmethods or experts Management information systems (MISs) play a vital role in providingrelevant information to the different management layers for efficiency and effectiveness

In ‘‘Analysis and Communication for Public Budgeting’’ (Chapter 27), Carl Graftonand Anne Permaloff discuss how relatively inexpensive and common computing toolspermit budgeting and analytical techniques to be used quickly, accurately, and lessexpensively than would have been the case only a few years ago Computer tools alsopermit great improvements in the production and dissemination on the Internet ofbudgetary information transparent to the public and their legislative and news mediarepresentatives The authors discuss important lessons learned in relation to the budget-ary techniques

John W Swain and Jay D White, in ‘‘Public Finance Management InformationSystems’’ (Chapter 28), define key terms, describe the application of IT to accounting

in the public sector, and explain the barriers to the fulfillment of ICT promises Theseauthors also assess developments in public finance in relation to ICT Likewise, T R Carr,

in ‘‘Statistical Analysis Software in Public Management’’ (Chapter 29), examines the role

of statistical packages as a management tool in the public sector Carr discusses the use ofstatistical packages in improving the quality of information available to decision-makers

V E-GOVERNMENTThomas Horan and Kimberly Wells, in ‘‘Enacting Virtual Forms of Work and Community:Multiwave Research Findings across Individual, Organizational, and Local CommunitySettings’’ (Chapter 30), examine how digital technologies are affecting work and com-munity They focus on virtual forms of telework and community technology applications

as pursued in the state of Minnesota Reporting three waves of data collection, theauthors find that the success of virtual activities depends on the surrounding activities

by local organizational and community networks The community focus groups’ findingshighlighted the extent to which community success with technology deployment is insignificant part due to the extent to which community participants collaborate to develop

‘‘action-oriented’’ forums for deployment These results provide confirmation that virtualactivities do not occur in isolation, but rather should be seen as part of a broaderknowledge-sharing enterprise occurring in organizations and communities.

In ‘‘e-Government: The URBIS Cities Revisited’’ (Chapter 31), Alana Northrop discussesICT in the 42 U.S cities that had been the subject of a $1.9 million NSF-funded series

of studies in 1975 and 1988 Northrop returns to the URBIS cities and explores their use ofe-government, with contrasts with several other data sets: Government Technologymagazine’s Best of the Web 2001 and 2002 city winners, ICMA’s 2002 city/county survey,Brown University’s Taubman Center’s 2002 municipal survey, and Scavo’s 2002 survey ofcity/county websites in each state Focus is on how up to date the websites are, commonfeatures across websites, number of clicks on home page, and online transaction features.Julianne G Mahler and Priscilla M Regan, in ‘‘Agency Internets and the ChangingDynamics of Congressional Oversight’’ (Chapter 32), focus on the effects of the increasingdigital capacity of federal agencies on congressional oversight They explore the impact

of expanded online agency offerings on the number and type of requests for casework;

on the focus, duration, and number of investigative hearings; and on the detail andspecificity with which program legislation is written This research is based on interviewswith committee staff, with jurisdiction over two agencies with a strong Internet presenceand two with a weak presence

In ‘‘Privacy Considerations in Electronic Judicial Records: When Constitutional RightsCollide’’ (Chapter 33), Charles N Davis addresses the growing trend toward electronicjudicial records and the policies various states have enacted addressing the issue ofprivacy By examining the results of a much-anticipated working group studying issues

of e-government and information access, the author examines the challenges posed byelectronic records and proposes a more proper balance between the public’s right toknow and other competing interests

Juliet Ann Musso and Christopher Weare, in ‘‘Information Technology and PoliticalParticipation: A Comparative Institutional Approach’’ (Chapter 34), consider whethernew information and communication technologies have significant effects on citizenparticipation by evaluating the development of a major innovation in electronic govern-ance They analyze the creation of an electronic system in Los Angeles to providestakeholders a warning of upcoming political decisions and an opportunity to furnishfeedback The authors find that technology can positively affect individuals’ capacity andmotivations Nevertheless, it is not a panacea, because, by itself, technology does notovercome the complex of political, institutional, and behavioral impediments that havelimited previous participatory reforms

In ‘‘e-Government Performance-Reporting Requirements’’ (Chapter 35), Patrick R.Mullen discusses several U.S laws that contain IT and e-government performance-reporting requirements, including the Paperwork Reduction Act, the Computer SecurityAct, the Clinger–Cohen Act, the Government Information Security Reform Act (GISRA),and the e-Government Act For each, the author reviews the legislative history and thenfocuses on the specific requirements for reporting to the Congress, the Office ofManagement and Budget (OMB), and the agency heads The author concludes thatOMB’s new Office of Electronic Government needs to evaluate whether performancerequirements could be improved through (1) consolidation, thereby providing a morecomprehensive discussion of agency IT and e-government issues and (2) addressingbroader issues, such as an across-government focus on both national and international ITissues

Jon Parks and Shannon Schelin, in ‘‘Assessing e-Government Innovation’’ (Chapter36), offer a theoretical framework for understanding e-government and examine twoalternative assessment methodologies for gauging e-government capacity The authorsempirically test several hypotheses about policy innovation at the local level and discussimplications and questions for future research.

In ‘‘e-Democracy and the U.K Parliament’’ (Chapter 37), Stephen Coleman notes howrepresentative institutions are slowly adapting to the digital world In 1996 the U.K.Parliament established its own website Although a highly informative resource, ofparticular value to journalists and those familiar with the parliamentary system, Colemanfinds that the site is designed to promulgate official knowledge rather than facilitateinteractive communication between citizens and legislators

A˚ke Gro¨nlund, in ‘‘Emerging Electronic Infrastructures: Exploring Democratic ponents’’ (Chapter 38), discusses how the components of a democratic society are treated

Com-as they are built into the emerging electronic infrCom-astructures dealing with services anddialogues pertinent to the functioning of the public sector and tries to find emergingpatterns Gro¨nlund opens a discussion on the nature of the emerging infrastructures byreviewing four implementations of local ‘‘e-democracy’’ and putting them into thecontext of the global e-government development, in particular the EU development of

‘‘eEurope.’’ He finds that the cases represent different models of democracy, models thatare only partially explicit The development is governed more by gradual implementation

of ICT tools than a general political agenda This means local actors have great influenceand hence e-democracy is not deterministic but rather can come in many shapes

VI CONCLUSION

In ‘‘Information Systems, Politics, and Government: Leading Theoretical Perspectives’’(Chapter 39), G David Garson focuses on recent theorists who have addressed the coreconcern of social science theory: the modeling of long-term trends to postdict the pastand predict the future of the impact of ICT on society Such theories are pertinent to manyfields and are central to public administrationists’ concern for policy development andpragmatic efforts to reconcile the potential of ICT with societal needs as we enter the 21stcentury The theorists discussed in this chapter are grouped in four broad camps Thedecentralization/democratization school emphasizes the progressive potential of ICT ingovernment, business, education, the home, and almost all spheres of life The criticaltheory school emphasizes the internal contradictions of information systems and pro-mulgates a cautionary counter to the enthusiasm of the decentralization/democratizationtheorists The sociotechnical systems theory school discussed in this chapter is one of theoldest and best established, which combines elements of the first two, but at the expense

of predictive theory The global integrationist school transcends the optimism–pessimismduality of the first two schools and is critical of both while still laying the basis forpredictive theory Theorists and writers in this school focus on the globality of worldwideinformation networks as a transformative socioeconomic force

BRIDGING THE GAP BETWEEN INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY NEEDS IN THE PUBLIC SECTOR AND

IN PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION GRADUATE EDUCATION

Mary Maureen BrownUniversity of North CarolinaJeffrey L BrudneyUniversity of GeorgiaWilliam L Waugh, Jr.

Georgia State University

CONTENTS

I Introduction 12

II The growth of IT in the public sector 12

A The need for instruction in software application 13

B The need for instruction in IT management 14III Methodology and data collection 16

A Findings on instruction system application use 17

B Findings on instruction in IT management 22

IV Conclusion 24References 25

ABSTRACTThe information technology (IT) revolution in the public sector has been slowed byshrinking budgets and expanding expenditures for security and other concerns, butthe promise of greater efficiency and effectiveness continues to encourage invest-ment in new technologies A continuing obstacle, however, has been the gap

11

between public-sector IT needs and the skills of public employees Master of PublicAdministration (MPA) programs have tried to address the need for IT skills, butmuch still needs to be done to meet agency needs This chapter focuses on the ITskills currently being taught in MPA programs and the perception that they do notfully address public-sector needs On the basis of a survey of the National Associ-ation of Schools of Public Affairs and Administration–affiliated MPA programs, theauthors conclude that greater attention needs to be paid to effective IT manage-ment, including the concepts identified by the Clinger–Cohen Act, in order forpublic managers to be able to use IT effectively to meet organizational imperatives.

I INTRODUCTIONWhile the IT revolution in government has been bogged down by budget deficits and, atleast partially, by greatly increased expenditures for security, the growth of e-government

is gaining momentum In some measure, IT applications are still viewed as a means ofreducing expenditures, making government more efficient (Harris, 2003: 6), and, at thesame time, making it more effective in addressing societal needs Digital government,e-commerce, Internet and intranet networks, and other IT applications are changing thevery nature of the relationship between citizen and government However, progress hasnot been without major mishaps

Governments have invested heavily in computer technology over the past two decades,but these investments have not always fulfilled management expectations Project failures inthe Internal Revenue Service in the early 1990s, for example, cost taxpayers an estimated $50billion per year (Anthes, 1996) The primary reason for the high failure rate is a lack

of knowledge in software utilization and information technology (IT) management In

1986, the National Association of Schools of Public Affairs and Administration (NASPAA)promulgated general guidelines for curricula in computers and information systems

in graduate programs in public affairs and administration (Kraemer and King 1986)

In 1996, Congress passed the Clinger–Cohen Act (CCA) intended to reform and improveinformation management in the federal government This chapter examines the extent

to which schools and departments of public administration provide instruction

on software application use and IT requisite to these two challenges The study focuses onthe extent to which MPA and Master of Arts in Public Administration (MAPA) graduatesreceive instruction that will prepare them for the dramatic changes in IT under way in thefederal, state and local governments

II THE GROWTH OF IT IN THE PUBLIC SECTOR

When NASPAA made its original recommendations in 1986, it recognized formally whathad become obvious: the need for students to become computer literate In the decadefollowing the NASPAA report, the federal government spent roughly $200 billion on IT(GAO/AIMD-94-115) In 1994 alone the federal government obligated more than $23.5billion toward IT products and services — about 5% of its total discretionary spending(GAO/AIMD-96-64) A 1997 General Accounting Office (GAO) report concluded, ‘‘nearlyevery aspect of over $1.5 trillion in annual federal government operations depends oninformation systems’’ (GAO-AIMD/GGD-97-60: 3)

Expenditures for IT continue to increase From 2000 to 2003, state and local ment expenditures for IT rose from $56 billion to $81 billion, and federal expenditures rosefrom $35 billion to $52 billion On the basis of RFPs, the Center for Digital Government

govern-estimates that 19% of recent expenditures are for computing, 18% for administrativesystems, 18% for telecom/wireless technologies, 17% for consulting, 13% for networking,4% for videoconferencing, 4% for e-commerce, 3% for public safety, 2% for recordsmanagement, and 2% for GIS (Government Technology, September 2003: 10).

Across the gamut of government operations, IT is used in virtually every function:criminal justice and law enforcement, taxation and finance, human services, transporta-tion, accounting, budgeting, personnel, payroll, procurement, inventory control, and soforth Public managers look to IT to streamline work processes, enable easier access andretrieval of information, provide better products and services, save money by avoidingworkforce expansion, speed up transactions such as payroll and billing, facilitate adher-ence to government regulations, and provide greater data security

Despite the substantial level of investment in computer technology, as will be cussed below, IT has not usually met the high expectations of managers for improve-ments in productivity, performance, and decision-making (Attewell and Rule, 1984;Keen, 1986; Drucker, 1995) As the next section of the chapter shows, information systembenefits are not easily achieved, and large investments in computing do not guaranteesuccess (Brown and Brudney, 1998) Skill deficits in software use and system manage-ment detract from benefit attainment In 2002, for example, the Brainbench Reportestimated that the performance gaps between government and private-sector IT serviceworkers was 17% in entry-level technology skills, 17% in programming language skills,16% in database skills, 12% in networking skills, and 10% in Internet skills Governmentworkers were more skilled than their private IT counterparts by 8% in Microsoft applica-tions skills and 5% in Microsoft technology administration skills (Government Technol-ogy, October 2002: 11) In other words, government workers are more skilled in basicword processing, spreadsheet, and other office applications and less skilled than private-sector workers in more sophisticated IT applications

dis-This chapter evaluates how instruction on IT in graduate programs in public istration and policy has evolved over time, and whether MPA and MAPA students receiveinstruction requisite to the computing demands of government agencies

admin-Focusing on changes that have taken place over a 10-year time frame, the analysisbelow examines the evolution of curricula in software application utilization in schoolsand departments of public administration The analysis reports data from the fourth in aseries of national surveys of MPA programs on topics related to preparation and instruc-tion in quantitative and computer skills The analysis also examines the extent to whichpublic administration departments and schools incorporate concepts relating to systemmanagement and implementation To promote a more effective and efficient use of IT,Congress has enacted several legislative reforms to control and monitor IT adoption andimplementation practices in the federal sector Using the goals of the Clinger–Cohen Act

of 1996 as a benchmark, the research examines the degree to which masters of publicaffairs and administration programs have met recommendations for instruction on pivotalissues and practices in IT

A The Need for Instruction in Software Application

The literature on public administration has amply documented the expanding use of ITs

in pubic agencies and the need for public administration graduates to have basiccomputer skills (Brudney et al., 1993) According to Kraemer and Northrop (1989),basic computing tasks, such as record keeping, record searching, and word processing,

are so common across public-sector positions that they should be included in most MPAcourses, including those in the core While the professional and academic communitieshave come to accept as a given the increasing use of computer technologies in publicagencies, they have reached far less consensus on the impacts of that use, or howgraduate education in public affairs and administration should prepare students forcareers in government The 1986 NASPAA guidelines recommended that students receivecomputer instruction in courses in public management, including accounting, finance,budgeting, and personnel In addition, NASPAA institutional accreditation standardsstate the expectation that MPA programs are to present students with managementtraining in ‘‘information systems, including computer literacy and applications’’ (NASPAA,1988: 3) Other scholars, too, have provided guidance on the particular computercompetencies that ought to be part of the public affairs and administration curriculaand the methods for integrating those skills into substantive courses (Bretschneider, 1990;Bergin, 1988).

Yet, some evidence exists that during the 1980s, masters degree programs in publicaffairs and administration adapted only slowly to the impacts of the computer and ITs onagencies, tasks, and jobs in the public sector (Waugh et al., 1985; Kiel, 1986; Norris andThompson, 1988; Garson, 1993; Kraemer and Northrop, 1989) and revised their curricula

in response At issue is the level of computer literacy that students should achieve as ITsproliferate and the nature of public administration adapts to the technology changes.What software skills are necessary now, and, more importantly, what skills will benecessary in the next 5 to 10 years? How does one identify the basic software skills thatare needed for entering the public-sector workforce, and how does one find the crest ofthe technological wave and anticipate the skills that will be needed in the future? Thefindings below provide insight on the changes in software application instruction inschools and departments of public administration since 1995

The debate concerning which techniques and technologies should be included inpublic administration curricula has continued A recent study of the top 20 MPA pro-grams, for example, concludes that programs have tended to emphasize research meth-odologies, management science, or management decision-making and their relatedtechnologies The authors suggest that a management decision-making approach em-phasizing problem-solving skills, such as policy analysis, performance measurement,program evaluation, and cost–benefit analysis, would be a better choice for MPA pro-grams In terms of computer applications, they argue, ‘‘[g]enerally, computer applicationsare not worthy of credit at the graduate level’’ and go on to suggest that students learn theapplications in training workshops (Aristigueta and Raffel, 2001: 166)

B The Need for Instruction in IT Management

The failure of computer technology to achieve the organizational benefits anticipated is arecurrent problem In 1982, Turner wrote, ‘‘After more than two and a half decades ofexperience in implementing computer application systems a surprisingly large number ofthem still end in failure’’ (Turner, 1982: 207) Similarly, in an early study of the imple-mentation of information systems, Thayer et al (1982) found that over 30% of a sample of

60 large public- and private-sector computer projects were abandoned during the mentation phase

imple-In a more recent study of public- and private-sector organizations, the Standish Group(1994) validates these earlier findings The responses of 365 public- and private-sector IT

executives suggest that fully one third of all IT projects were canceled before completion.Only 16% of the projects were successfully completed on time and on budget Over 50%

of the projects exceeded their original cost estimates by almost 200%, and roughly onethird of the projects experienced schedule delays of 200 to 300% The Standish Groupestimates that American companies and government agencies spent a staggering $81billion on canceled IT projects in 1995 alone In another study, Cats-Baril and Thompson(1995: 563) claimed that 20% of all IT projects are scrapped before completion; 80% ofthose that are completed finish behind schedule, over budget, and with lower function-ality than originally anticipated

While the past two decades have witnessed the proliferation of computer technologythroughout government, studies indicate that technology benefits are neither guaranteednor automatic For many public agencies, dysfunctional systems that impede productivityand thwart effective service delivery are too often the rule rather than the exception SeveralGAO reports show that IT efforts are plagued by unusually high project failure rates (GAO/AIMD-94-1l5, 1994b; GAO/OIMC-96-46, 1996a; GAO/OIMC-96-64, 1996b) One GAOreport remonstrates, ‘‘Despite spending more than $200 billion on information managementand systems during the last 12 years, the government has too little evidence of meaningfulreturns The consequences — poor service, high costs, low productivity, unnecessary risks,and unexploited opportunities for improvement — cannot continue’’ (AIMD-94-115: 7).Poorly performing computer systems plague state and local governments as well.Many state agencies are hampered by information systems that are incompatible, overlycomplex, and substandard For example, a 1996 study found that every human serviceagency in New York has its own eligibility assessment system, its own way of monitoringservices, its own billing system, its own audit system, and its own client tracking system(Gurwitt, 1996) Similarly, in North Carolina incompatible computer systems acrossagencies with similar functions, such as the State Bureau of Investigation, the Department

of Criminal Investigation, and the Administrative Office of the Courts, make sharinginformation exceedingly cumbersome

The dollars squandered on such problems are significant Disturbed by the news thatstates failed to collect more than 80% of delinquent child support payments in 1980, thefederal government provided funds to state agencies to develop computer systems totrack noncomplying parents Nearly two decades and $2 billion later, 35 states and 60% ofthe nation’s child support cases are still not computerized States fail to collect more than80% of overdue child support, with past due accounts now topping $32 billion (Mazzar-ella, 1997) As a result of these setbacks, the California State Legislature has scrappeddevelopment of a statewide child support collection system, at a sunk cost of $260million, and is starting over with the development of a new system (Kavanaugh, 1997a).Local governments suffer from many of the same problems with computer systems.For example, frustrated by continued IT failures despite a $268 million cash infusion, LosAngeles Mayor Richard Riordan proposed creating an office of technology implementa-tion within the Los Angeles Police Department Riordan recommended the appointment

of a chief information officer to overcome the lack of coordination and leadership thathas resulted in system failure, project setbacks, and cost overruns (Kavanaugh, 1997b).The appointment of a CIO has now become a common practice in federal, state, and localgovernment agencies, as well as in private and nonprofit organizations

Other municipalities are also confronted with poor system performance that spillsover into daily work operations In 1984, Attewell and Rule (1984: 1184) were puzzledthat ‘‘people remain so willing to speak and write as though the overall effects of

computing technologies were a foregone conclusion’’ Two decades later, others in thefield continue to document the gap between investments in and outcomes from com-puting Keen (1986: 83) insists, ‘‘claims about the almost deterministic relationshipbetween investing in office technology, personal computers, and information systemsand getting improved productivity have produced too few proven results It is as if there

is some missing ingredient’’ Scholars such as Davenport (1993) and Drucker (1995) haveidentified the gap: they argue fervently for the need to build capacities in attendantorganizational and management practices to span the chasm between information systeminvestment and performance

So great have the problems of IT failures become in the public sector that the U.S.Congress has seen fit to take action Congress has passed a series of legislative acts toaddress the organizational and managerial challenges of information system adoption andimplementation Five pieces of legislation have been directed at ameliorating the risksassociated with IT adoption: The Clinger–Cohen Act of 1996, the Paperwork Reduction Act

of 1995, the Federal Acquisition Streamlining Act of 1994, the Government Performanceand Results Act of 1993, and the Chief Financial Officers Act of 1990 [Brown and Brudney(1998) discuss the legislation in depth] Here we focus on the most recent legislation, theCCA, which aims to lower the rising rate of IT failures experienced by federal agencies In

an earlier report, then Senator William Cohen (1994) worried that ‘‘poor informationmanagement, is, in fact, one of the biggest threats to the government treasury because itleaves government programs susceptible to waste, fraud, and abuse.’’

With the goal to prevent computer system failures, the CCA seeks to reform ITmanagement practice The law requires the Office of Management and Budget to report

on the net program performance benefits achieved as the result of major capital ITinvestments and to examine the relationship between these benefits and the achievement

of agency goals The act addresses the policy, management, and integration aspects ofaligning IT with the operation and performance of public agencies In sum, the CCAproposes that the remedy for IT failures lies in legislative and policy requirements thatwill dramatically affect the leadership, management, and oversight of new technology inthe federal government

The chapter now turns to the efforts made in master’s degree programs in publicaffairs and administration to meet the demands for managing IT in the public sector.While the pace of technology, management, and policy initiatives in IT has escalated, towhat degree have graduate programs in public administration made necessary accom-modations? The research evaluates the extent to which departments and schools haveimplemented the 1986 NASPAA recommendations on computing and show evidence ofpreparing MPA graduates in computer system use and management To do so, the studymonitors the degree to which instruction on system application use periodically over thepast decade In addition, it assesses whether schools and departments of public admin-istration provide instruction on the concepts identified in the CCA as critical to successful

IT adoption and operation

III METHODOLOGY AND DATA COLLECTION

To ascertain the degree to which graduate programs in public administration provideinstruction in software application use and IT management, the research relied on anationwide survey of all MPA and MAPA granting schools and departments conducted in

2003 The sample was drawn from NASPAA’s Directory of Programs; questionnaires were

mailed to all 218 principal representatives of MPA institutions affiliated with the NASPAA.Repeated mailings yielded a response rate of 50%, or 106 completed surveys.

The survey probed two areas: use of computer technology and instruction on themanagement of IT adoption and implementation The later items explored the conceptsset forth by the CCA The questions focused on project management issues, includingplanning and coordinating IT adoption and implementation, information system lifecycle, evaluating IT outcomes, developing IT policies, integrating TI across organiza-tional boundaries, and coping with the legal ramifications of IT

A Findings on Instruction System Application Use

Table 2.1 contains data from our 1995 survey (Brown et al., 2000) and indicates that themethodological training of entering MPA students did not change significantly between

1989 and 1995 There were slight decreases in the percentages of entering students whohad taken research methods and advanced mathematics courses Those slight declinesmay be attributable to the increased numbers of students entering MPA programs withundergraduate degrees in disciplines outside of the social sciences, but the differencewas too small to infer much change What does stand out in the 1995 data is the 44.1% ofstudents who had taken microcomputer courses According to respondents, nearly twothirds (65.1%) of entering students were familiar with microcomputer usage Commonwisdom would suggest that more and more entering MPA students have some formalexposure to microcomputer usage and some may well have rather sophisticated skills inthis domain Since the 1995 survey, microcomputers and other IT technologies havebecome more common in homes and schools and there is every reason to expect thatstudents entering MPA programs have even more sophisticated skills

Table 2.2 provides further details on the number and kinds of microcomputer coursesoffered by the NASPAA-accredited schools For comparative purposes we report in Table2.2 and the tables following the analogous data from a 1995 survey of NASPAA institu-tions conducted previously by the authors (n ¼ 106 completed surveys)

The findings in Table 2.2 show that virtually all of the NASPAA-accredited schools anddepartments — 96% — integrate microcomputer skills into coursework Thus, the MPAprograms seem to have heeded the recommendation of the NASPAA Ad Hoc Committee

on Computing in Public Administration Education for the integration of microcomputing

Table 2.1 Methodological Training of Entering MPA Students (Mean Responses, in Percent)

into substantive coursework Perhaps for this reason, the percentage of MPA programsrequiring a separate course on microcomputers has actually dropped from over half in

1995 (56%) to just a third in 2003 (32%) Or, it may also be the case that entering MPAsbring with them greater computer competency, thus mitigating the need for a requiredcourse Nevertheless, the percentage of schools and departments requiring microcom-puter competency for graduation doubled from 19% in 1995 to 38% in 2003 Forty ofthese programs or 44% offer a series of courses on microcomputer applications Consist-ent with other MPA ‘‘concentrations,’’ the number of courses in the microcomputerapplications series is most often three (31% of MPA programs that have a series), yetthe percentage of schools in the fortunate position of being able to offer four or morecourses in this area has grown dramatically from just 12% in 1995 to 32% in 2003 Themean response from all 40 programs that offer a series of courses on microcomputerapplications shows that about half of the students in the program (49%) complete theseries

In concert with the findings that show greater integration of microcomputer skills intopublic administration coursework and generally more courses available in the MPAcurriculum in microcomputer applications, the findings from the 2003 survey demon-strate much greater student access to microcomputer facilities Microcomputer accessseems to have grown substantially in the NASPAA-accredited institutions since the 1995

Table 2.2 Microcomputing in MPA Curricula, 1995 and 2003 (in Percent)

Number of required computer courses

How do students gain access to microcomputers?

survey Results of the 2003 survey show that the percentage of programs reporting thatstudents gain access to microcomputers through university computer labs (91%), labs inthe school or department (71%), computers in student workspace (65%), and throughlabs in other departments (25%) have all at least doubled since 1995 In addition, accessthrough student ownership of microcomputers has grown tremendously over the pastdecade or so, reported by more than 90% of the departments and schools in the 2003survey (92%) compared to just 38% in the 1995 survey The lower cost of this technology,combined with the greater need to integrate it into instruction, is perhaps responsible forthe large increase.

Table 2.3 shows the integration of microcomputing applications into MPA courses inthe 1995 and 2003 surveys The table presents the applications in descending orderaccording to the number of programs in which they are taught in the 2003 survey Inboth surveys, the top two applications by frequency of use are statistics and spreadsheets,taught by 90% or more of the reporting schools and departments in 2003 The integration

of microcomputer packages in required statistics analysis courses remains the mostcommon usage in MPA programs (reported by 97%)

Budgeting is the next most common area for microcomputing applications, althoughthe percentage of MPA programs claiming to use microcomputers in this domain is muchless (58%) The responses suggest relatively frequent integration of microcomputingapplications in pubic personnel administration courses (for example, data management,database management, and record search) and in budget and finance courses (forexample, spreadsheets and financial management) With the exception of microcomput-ing applications in cost–benefit analysis (which might also be found in courses in

Table 2.3 Applications Taught in Required Courses, 1995 and 2003 (in Percent)